Gift giving is a time-honored tradition and gift wrap is a thrilling experience for kids, so we continue to invest considerable resources into it. But the price on your time is high: The average person wraps around 15 presents a year, according to surveys from 2003 and 2009 (article here). Given all the time to spend rounding up materials, working diligently on tidy folds, and cleanup, this is likely eating up 5-8 minutes per present and possibly more for those who value a quality wrap. Doing this yourself can get even more insane if you’re gifting to a big family or the lead-up to the holidays are busy at work.
It’s time to bust up our inefficient gift wrapping practices and see how money can solve the problem. Gift wrapping services are either tied to specific stores or otherwise rare, but enter everyone’s favorite flexible, on-demand labor pool: TaskRabbit.
How I used TaskRabbit as a mobile gift wrapping service for $3.50 a gift
TaskRabbit is a marketplace that matches freelance workers (Taskers) with customers requesting odd job tasks, including handyman work and personal assistant services. Taskers can even be paid to do things like wait in line for you. And, as we’ll see, you can use Taskers to outsource the draining task of wrapping a pile of Christmas presents.
TaskRabbit lists “Gift Wrapping” as a task and it still shows up in Google as an article on the TaskRabbit website, but it never let me officially select “gift wrapping” as the task. Instead, I found taskers who had listed themselves as having the “Arts & Crafts” skill. No tasker explicitly listed Gift Wrapping, so I went ahead and chose based on my best guess. The nominated tasker is able to chat with you and accept or reject the job, so I sent a message asking if they are willing to do gift wrapping for 23 gifts (that’s gifts for all of my kids, wife, and some immediate family).
One tasker rejected within an hour, citing that they weren’t going to do a good job at it. I was grateful for that. The next tasker I tried happily signed up and we booked a time for the weekend.
The result: tree full of gifts and happy kids
I prepared all the gifts and materials and set up the tasker in our dining room. She arrived on time, I showed her the work and explained how the gifts were laid out and gave custom instructions on a couple of gifts. I left her to it, and came by and checked on her every 30 minutes or so to see how she was doing and to answer any questions she might have, refill materials, etc.
Starting with a massive mess that I could never dream of dealing with, my tasker did an excellent job with the gifts. She cut precisely, folded in sharp lines, and accessorized with string. It was cathartic to see the pile of completed gifts in front of me and to not have to deal with one of my least favorite parts of the holiday. The kids came downstairs to an impressive pile of beautifully wrapped gifts that suddenly appeared in front of the Christmas tree. There was Christmas merriment as the sweet smell of peppermint filled the air. There was a gratuitous amount of Christmas happening in that moment.
How much does gift wrapping service cost?
Based on our experience using TaskRabbit, we paid $3.50 per gift wrapped in our house with our choice of paper. Similar to any other TaskRabbit job, your results may vary depending on the tasker and how complex the gift wraps will need to be. This compares favorably to other options: if you go with a dedicated gift wrap service, you can expect to pay quite a bit—sometimes $8-$12 per gift! We discuss those in ‘alternatives’ at the end of this article.
Breaking down the calculation further, the tasker worked for approximately 3.5 hours wrapping 23 gifts, including a large riding horse kids toy. The total charge from TaskRabbit was based on her base rate of around $18.50/hr + a 15% service fee, so I paid a total of $75 plus materials (< $6), translating to $81/23 = $3.52.
Was it worth it?
Yes, it was worth it! This seems like a fantastic trade of money for time, unless you are the kind of person who really loves the act of wrapping gifts or can wrap extremely fast and well. I am neither.
While this result may vary on by your tasker, overall I was impressed with the value — a relatively cheap cost of $3.50 per gift, all done without needing to leave home. I got the chance to work on another project and spend quality time with my kids. At $3.50 a gift, it was cheaper than gift wrapping options I could get online at places like Amazon, while letting me get customized wrapping on gifts from any store.
The quality of wrapping was excellent, far better than I or my wife could have done. Or at least it would have taken us many more hours to get the same result. And who has 4-6 continuous hours to wrap gifts? Or shall we do it piecemeal over weeks, taking the stuff out and putting it away each time? Madness!
Step-by-step guide to using TaskRabbit to get a gift wrapper
Creating the job
- Get the wrapping paper and other materials (e.g., string) you like. Check out Amazon’s “Best Looking Wrapping Papers You Will Ever Find” for inspiration.
- Go to taskrabbit.com and in the text box, enter “Gift Wrapping”. It will likely suggest “Arts and Crafts” as the top task type.
- Estimated length of the job: My tasker took around 9 minutes per gift because there were quite a few big ones. So, 15 gifts with some big ones make this a “medium” (2-3 hour) job.
- “Tell us the details of your task”: write “need help wrapping Christmas presents”. I don’t know if it impacts tasker match, but worth filling it in.
- Now, TaskRabbit will present you with a list of Taskers. There will be some expensive ones (like $80/hr) to avoid, and you should sort by Price (low to high). You can read their profiles by clicking “View Profile & Reviews” under their portrait, and see what descriptions they put down for their Arts & Crafts skills and what restrictions they have on their jobs.
- Use your judgment to measure their profiles and make a choice. Taskrabbit is vague. Use their profile info, reliability rating, and whether they’ve done any other Arts & Crafts jobs before (though this might be rare). You don’t need to go super expensive for simple work like gift wrapping, but someone with a good work ethic is always worth a little bit extra because you want someone who will get the job done. College students are great for this job and tend to charge lower rates, but I’ve had a lot of success with a wide variety of types of people tasking for me.
- Given the vague and sometimes subjective way of how TaskRabbit assigns tasks, it’s important to communicate extremely clearly with taskers prior to any job. You should be clear on whether you will provide materials, and be as specific as possible on the size of the job. For gift wrapping, I suggest something like the following script:
Hello,
I need some help wrapping up 25 Christmas gifts. Is this something you would be able to help with? I will provide materials (wrapping paper, tape, scissors). If not, no worries!
Thank you,
Elite Time Buyer
Preparing for for your Tasker
- Find a space where your tasker will work on the gift wrapping.
- Lay out and prepare supplies, preferably on a spacious table or countertop free of clutter.
- Prepare gifts: we put out each gift and taped the To/From note directly to it and also gave any specific instructions (e.g., put these two gifts together; remove from shipping box, etc.)
- Special instructions: This is also a good time to ask for assembly of simple gifts (e.g., children’s toys) and have them wrapped directly. For example, we had a kids’ rocking horse that was simple to assemble so the tasker took it out of the box, assembled it, and wrapped it that way.
Are there alternatives to TaskRabbit for outsourcing gift wrapping?
Maybe you looked and TaskRabbit said “Arts & Crafts is not available in your area.” I’ve yet to find an effective one, but here are the things I’ve explored in the past.
Ask your mom
Classic, and free, but not always an option.
Mobile gift wrapping services near you
Dedicated mobile gift wrapping services exist but are hit and miss and usually do not exist in most cities I checked. When I found them, they seemed to charge high rates.
Gift wrap service with online orders (e.g., Amazon)
Online retailers like Amazon and Target offer gift wrapping on items you purchase from them. This can be quite expensive, ranging from $5-$8. You don’t get to customize the wrapping usually. In some cases, Amazon puts the item in a gift bag rather than traditional wrapping paper. I like the sense of design that comes with picking wrapping paper, so I tend to only use this options for one-off gifts for birthdays.
Post gig on Facebook Marketplace or Nextdoor
I’ve had some luck posting gigs on Facebook Marketplace and Nextdoor. These are tied to personal accounts and generally safer than the old days of Craigslist, but of course use caution!
Use retail stores or shopping mall kiosks
Most shopping malls I have been to run a gift wrapping table, but that may be challenging as you need to haul gifts you purchased online there. Or you may be inclined not to want to go out in person. Some department stores like Nordstrom and Macy’s offer gift wrapping services, but they are also quite pricey and tend to charge $6 or more per gift.
Note on Thumbtack
Thumbtack lists gift wrapping for itself in search results, but this option didn’t pan out. I only found super-pro gift wrappers in the Seattle Metro area who do professional wrapping as part of their services for large events like weddings and professionally thrown birthday parties. Thumbtack is also known to charge high fixed rates for its leads, so you generally should expect jobs that you sign up for through ThumbTack to be more expensive and for larger jobs only. Wrapping 20 or so holiday gifts may not be enough to attract one of ThumbTack’s providers.
Time grows on (Christmas) trees
The holidays are a great time to relax and connect with family, but the cost of facilitating the associated merriment can be a real time drain, especially for those who have to coordinate it. Outsourcing some of it via TaskRabbit is a powerful tool for giving you time to spend it on creating joy, so I hope you try it out and get some.
Am I killing the romance here? Or am I not being ruthlessly efficient enough? Leave a comment below.
